spoils of Amaleck for sacrifice because beside the rule find a curse instead of acceptance and is told Obedience is better than the fat of Rams 16 VVhen God sent Gideon to deliver Israel Judg. 6.12 he bespeaks him The Lord is with thee Thou mighty man of valour VVhat needed there mention of Gideons valour when the weapons of that warfare were to be spiritual rather then carnal a strong faith rather then a strong arm to blow with the Trumpets and cry The sword of the Lord and of Gideon required rather good Lungs then a valourous heart besides 't was Gods purpose to glorifie himself immediately in this delivery therefore chose the three hundred that lapped rather than the other thousands so that the veriest Coward had been rather for Gods turn then a man of courage But though the work was the Lords the enterprize was daring and required a well fortifyed mind to undertake it the exposing of three hundred in such a posture to an army that covered the earth like Grashoppers could not but stagger him who desired a sign that God would save Israel by his hand when he had thirty two thousand men following him therefore the Lord thus be speaks him questionably whether Indicatively or Imparatively to shew him so or make him so or at least more so therefore the Commission is Go in this thy might or thus Wade mighty but however if Gideon were high in valour he was low in humility though cryed up by the testimony of an Angel and so hard a matter to be a good Souldier and not a Braggard too yet not a word of his boasting through the whole story God can well allow us our portion when thereby we intrude not on his interest 17 In the 2 Same 13.5 we find Jonadab of counsel to Amnon in the ravishment of his sister Tamar and in the 32. verse either of counsel or conscious to his murder we read him indeed advising in the execution of the wickedness but not admonishing of the punishment Those Decoyes are frequent who cog us into danger but there leave us I have read of an evill spirit that was wont to entice men into mischief and then make himself sport with their troubles 't is the Devils play to laugh at those miseryes whereinto those things brought us to which he advised us 18 A charge is given by David to Ziba to till the Land for Mephibosheth and to bring him the fruits that his masters son might have food to eat and yet at the same time there is a promise made That he should eat bread continually at the Kings Table Surely Davids provision was not so short as that there needed a supply from Ziba there might have been mention made of Rent to his Coffers but it seems impertinent to provide food to eat where to talk of a supply had been a disparagement But Mephibosheth had a son and 't is probable store of Attendants and for these is the food intended reckoned as his because for his Dependants besides under the name of food other necessaries are understood though lesse necessary as bread promised to Mephibosheth at Davids Table because the staffe of mans life and therefore principally mentioned though only so excludes not the other delicacies which at the Kings Table were to be had When we pray to God for our daily bread we intend also the other conveniencies of life and that for us and ours and when God promiseth to give us food so that we need not take thought what we shall cat yet then he intends we should be provident for our own diet Davids courte sie must be accompanied with Ziba's industry 19 In the History of the Kings of Israel the Scripture refers us to the Books of Nathan Gad Jasher and others if these books were not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as 't is probable they were not yet being thus referred to they were of Divine Authority though not a priore by Divine Inspiration yet a posteriore by Divine approbation and like Leather money though no silver was yet currant being stampt even those words of the Heathen Poet being quoted by the Spirit are being so of like Authority but why are we referred to them for our confirmation or information Indeed God to establish our weakness repeats his Command that we be strengthned Be strong yea be strong we have the same things reiterated God thinks not much to shoot two Arrows out of his Quiver to strike the mark dead that like a Partridge kill'd by a Merlyn it may not so much as quiver a wing though the first did mortally woud it By two immutable things whereby it was impossible for God to lye could God have lyed had there been only a single asseveration and did that impossibility arise from the Duplication surely not to God who cannot deny himself and changeth not but as to us in condescension to whose weaknesse God makes that Bond double which before was so strong that Heaven and Earth should be dissolved first but why are these books then lost Even miracles that swadled the infant-truths of the Gospel were left off when by time they had gathered strength to stand alone yea God expects we should not be alwayes Babes and therefore reckons upon the time whereas for the time ye ought I have many things to say unto you but you cannot bear them now which yet were said when they could bear them all things are not fit for all times those Books might be meet for the present Generations that were not so for those that followed John points with the finger Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world yet the Disciples are charged To tell no man that he was the Christ Besides as God will sometimes help our weaknesse so at other times try our faith Hence that universal silence or perversion in profane story of what the Divine makes mention how short a touch doth Josephus give of the Lord Christ who yet copiously handleth things even to common judgement far less memorable yet of those Books that were written and lost or Traditions hath God taken care to insert so much in the Scriptures as was pertinent for his Church for which cause those words of Enoch are recited by Jude whereas what was written or said by him besides is perished 20 Though God be often attested to be no respecter of persons yet we find him dealing differently with divers persons in divers cases Gideon requires a sign more than once and is favourably complyed with Zachary doth so but once and hath his own dumbnesse given him for an evidence But 't is no wonder if God who knows the thoughts deal diversly to our thoughts Gideons faith like a child newly come to its feet desires that it may be upheld by a signe and pity it should not be led that was willing to go Zachary stands at a gaze and seems not so much to desire confirmation as to dispute the possibility of the thing
In the Italian they were left to rest upon their own leggs Lord I find my selfe indifferently able to resist temptation from without thy grace being assisted with shame feare and other helps which reason bringeth But the difficulty is then to stand when assailed by unruly passions of which no eye is witnesse but thine own therefore assist thou that insused principle with such fresh supplies from thy selfe that though the combate be more arduous yet the victory may be certaine 36 There being a great mutiny among the Souldiers of Alexander the Great he bespake them with the most pacifying language that he might but observing that rather to exasperate then allay their fury he leaped from his Throne and with his own hands ran his sword through some of the most mutinous upon which the rest relented and begging his pardon complyed with his commands When my affections prove mutinous and rebell against grace there 's no arguing of the case with them for they gather strength by treaty but the way is to fly in the face of them by an immediate detestation there being no expedient in this case like a speedy resolution 37 A Grecian Ambassador being at the Persian Court where 't is expected that reverence be done to the King by prostrating the body upon the ground a thing so abhor'd by the Grecians that they executed some of their Ambassadors at their returne for so doing he purposely let fall his Ring at his entrance that by stooping downe to take it up he might seeme to do that reverence which they expected and yet preserve his own thoughts by directing his intention to another purpose Lord how many have found out bolder and balder inventions wherewith to cheat their consciences for the accomplishing of their ends acting though more plausibly yet no lesse certainly contrary to their principles but do thou assist me that I may exercise my selfe alwayes to have a conscience voyd of offence first towards thy selfe and then towards men 38 The Lacedemonians had two staves exactly like one of which the Generall had to the Wars the other remained with the Ephori messages of importance and secrecy were written upon slips of Parchment rouled upon one of these staves wch being taken off could not be read the lines answering unequally till rouled upon the other staffe of the same size Lord the booke of thy eternall decrees is the staffe kept by thee that of thy Word the staffe delivered to me if the characters of thy Election written upon my heart are legible applyed to thy Word I am certaine they are such as will be acknowledged by thee when at that day they shall be applyed to thy eternall decrees 39 Under the Papacy any sins find easie absolution if the person be not suspected of Protestanisme and any opinions have tolerable favour if not derogatory from Papall authority How often besides by Jehu hath that question been put who is on my side who and if the party have been right for that cause if his religion be that of Mahomet or his life like that of Apicius he need not doubt but he shall find fair entertainment 40 The Persian being invaded by the Great Turke burnes up all which may be of any use to sustaine man or beast that those who could not be overcome by force might be weakened with famine Sine cerere Bacchofriget Venus and not to make provision for the flesh is not the least help to abate the strength of lust 41 Philonides Alexanders Currier passing from Scicion to Elis accomplished his journey thither in much more day-light then he could returne back againe because in his passage Westward he accompanied the Sun in his returne Eastward contrarily Lord in seeking after the things that are spirituall I find the comfort long abiding after those pursuits because in such actions thy Spirit the Comforter beares me company but the pleasure of the things of this life is quickly benighted because thy Spirit leads another course 42 At that memorable battel between the Carthaginians and Romanes at the Thrasimene Lake a very great earthquake at the same time happening was not apprehended by either Army The most important and shaking considerations never so earnestly prest seldome obtaine audience from hearts taken up with the immoderate cares after things of this life 43 'T is a tradition that the elder Church used the recitation of two Creeds that called the Apostles and the Nicene the one with a low the other with a loud voice because the first was composed in the times of persecution when the Church durst but as it were whisper its Confession the other in the time of peace when it might make a bolder profession Lord if it be thy will give us peace that thy Truth may be spoken loud and professed publickly if otherwise give us that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not to whisper it but professe it boldly 44 There was a Beugalan not long since who is said to live three hundred and thirty years but in that time had his hoary head changed to its originall blacknesse and his decayed teeth supplyed with new ones There 's none shall live that life which never endeth but are first new borne and restored as to those decayes which Adams fall brought putting off the old man which is corrupt with his deeds and putting on the new which after God is created in righteousnesse and true holinesse 45 I have hugely wondred that Bishop should be censured by the Pope as an Heretick for affirming Antipodes the assertion being so rationall and Pliny long before having with so much evidence of reason discourst of it But Lord this is thy just Judgement that if we shut our eyes against supernaturall light we should be fooles in that which is humane 46 The Great Mogull for his recreation is said to cause his Huntsmen to ride forth on a tame Elephant till they find a wild one with whom the tame committing fight and both engaged fast by their trunks men to that purpose attending bind the hinder feet of the wild one and so secure him In like manner Harts are taken by fastning a net to the hornes of a tame one who fighting with the wild so surely entangleth his craggy hornes that he easily becomes a prey to them that waite that opportunity How often is it that the dissentions of Christian Brethren have not onely made them serviceable to the lusts and passions of wicked men but a prey also to their cruelty 47 In a skirmish between the Protestants and Papists in those civill Wars in France a souldier of the Protestants party gained an horse much esteemed of by the enemy for the redemption of which they offered three prisoners that day taken in exchange but that offer being rejected they inraged slew the men immediatly before his eyes a few dayes after the same souldier being engaged on that very horse was by his fiery headstrongnesse carried so far into the enemies Troups that he could not be
are to run the wayes of thy Commandements but our lamenesse is least subject to thy censure when it is most under our own 85 The Elephant though of the greatest bulk and vastest strength yet above any other creature is plagued with flyes and least able to remedy that inconvenience not having so much as an haire on his tayle wherewith to drive them away Lord with how many incommodities hast thou allayed the great things of this world so that it is questionable even to carnall reason whether great matters with their many evills are more eligible then lesse with fewer troubles Oh therefore let me not be discontented with my meane estate being a greater cannot be had without discontent 86 L. Domitius having drunk poyson with intention to rid himselfe out of this world for feare of being Caesars Captive afterwards would by all meanes have hindred the operation of it Lord in our exigences and straits we are free to make large promises of what we will do for thee and give unto thee but when the storme is over and the present passion downe we wish that the obligation had never been made and devise shifts how the penalty may be avoided But let us be a shamed of this inconstancy and be established in the first resolution not onely because thou wilt not cancell the bond but because the debt is most just without it 87 That famous Cato was fourty four times cal'd into Judgement yet every time acquitted Oh how happy is it if we have envious and malicious accusers yet to have impartiall and upright Judges Lord how often doth Sathan accuse me before the Throne of thy justice yet while thy Son is my Advocate with thee I shall be acquitted not because I am not guilty but because he is Righteous 88 Alexander the Great being presented from the spoiles of Darius with a most rich Cabiner beset with Gold and what else might make it more precious and his friends each of them giving his thoughts what use it should be for said that the Books of Homer should be kept in it as judging them fittest to be reserved in so precious a receptacle Lord thou hast given us thy Scriptures better Books then those of Homer and my heart is my most precious Cabinet Let other things be rejected as lesse valuable but let these be not onely laid up but written in my heart yea let them like Aarons Almond Rod blossome and beare fruit also 89 Agesilaus in his travels was wont to lodge in the holiest places of the Temples of the Gods that they themselves might be witnesses of his private doings Lord there is no place but hath thee for a spectator and we have call'd thee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from our apprehensions of thy allseeing presence let me therefore be sahamed to do that when thou onely art conscious which I would not should be laid open to the veiw of men and Angels 90 Alexander the Great sending to the Athenians that they should deliver up the Thebans which had fled to them unlesse they would have him War upon them Phocian being desired to speak his opinion said That truly he lamented much the case of those Thebans but it were better for one City to mourne then two Lord thou requirest of us the delivery up of the concernments of flesh and bloud if we would have thee our friend though we are loath report from them yet it is better that the body lament the losse of those deare conveniences then that soule and body both lament eternally in Hell 91 At the battell of Crefcy where Edward the black Prince led the Van being then but eighteen yeares of Age the King his Father drawing up a strong party to a rising ground there beheld the conflict in a readinesse to send reliefe where it should be wanted The young Prince being sharply charged and in some danger sends to his Father for succour who delayes to send any so that another messenger comes to crave it to whom he answers Go tell my son that I am not so unexperienced a Commander as not to know when succour is wanted nor so carelesse a Father as not then to send it but he intended the honour of the day should be his sons and therefore let him with courage stand to it and be assured that help should then be had when it might conduce most to his renowne God draws forth his servants to fight in the spirituall warfare where they are engaged not onely against the strong holds of carnall reason and the exalted imaginations of their own hearts but also in the pitched field against Sathan and his wicked instruments but they poor hearts when the charge is sharpe are ready to despond and cry with Peter Save Lord we perish but God is too knowing to oversee their exigences and too much a father to neglect their succour but if help be delayed it is that the victory may be more glorious by the difficulty of overcoming 92 'T is said of Crassus that though he were the most avaritious man then living yet above all men he hated those that were so Strange it is that though likenesse be the true cause of love yet proud and coverous men admit no fellow a manifest conviction of the disorder of sin that agrees not with its selfe whereas grace never is but is loved where grace is 93 A Getulian shepherd being assaulted by a Lion and otherwise unprovided of resistance cast his loose coat upon the Lions head whereby the beast not only lost his fiercenesse but as if his strength had layen all in his eyes was by the man easily taken and bound When I have confidered what the Lions of England have suffered from the Romane Bishops I have even admired how so great strength and courage could be so amated but I observed the vaile of ignorance was throwne over their eyes which made them so rame and submissive to that See a policy so often proved of great advantage that to this day they are in doubt whether that or Divide impera be the surer Trump Thus have we seen whole heards of stronger cattell subject to the discipline of a little Boy because they poor creatures know not their owne strength and it is easie to take him at all advantage that to prevent his own calamities is without eyes 94 A certaine person at a game among the Athenians call'd Casting of the Dart slew accidentally with his Dart one of his companions Piricles spent an whole day with some Sophisters his familiars in dispute Whether the Dart or he that threw the Dart or he that instituted the sport were guilty of the mans death 'T is a Proverbe The greatest Clarks are not alwayes the wisest men and certainly this is not the least part of their folly that they delight to canvasse frivolous questions which engender strife rather then edifying and are wittily vaine more then profitably learned either to others or themselves how many are there accurately seen in